


it’s natural selection (it’s fraudulent science)

by pseudoanalytics



Category: Griefer Belt (Webcomic)
Genre: Character Study, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 03:16:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18274667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pseudoanalytics/pseuds/pseudoanalytics
Summary: Seong doesn't care that Lars doesn't care, because that's just the kind of guy that Lars is. He's busy. He's got the Belt. He's got his mom, and he's got a whole business to run. Lars has got a lot going on.And he used to have Seong, too.





	it’s natural selection (it’s fraudulent science)

**Author's Note:**

> happy birthday, kales
> 
> i hope ive done your boys justice

It can't be that he doesn't notice; it's gotta be that he just genuinely doesn't care.

And Seong doesn't care that Lars doesn't care, because that's just the kind of guy that Lars is. He's busy. He's got the Belt. He's got his mom. He's got a whole business to run and an armada of pseudofamily breathing down his neck, waiting for him to slip up so they can claim the whole thing for themselves. Lars has got a lot going on.

And he used to have Seong.

See, the thing is, Seong went into this... mess... knowing what _not_ to expect. Lars made that very clear from the start. That the whole thing was a matter of convenience for him. And Seong was conveniently cute, willing, and available.

Seong never deluded himself into thinking that Lars would suddenly settle for monogamy. He never expected to hear Lars say "I love you." Shit, he was just happy when he'd wake up the morning after and Lars was still in the same goddamn room.

And of course he wasn't going to tell Lars all this.

That's why he was telling Scott.

Scott, who'd dethroned Seong from a coveted, royal title that meant everything to everyone except the one person who actually mattered. Scott, who hid his expectations under a thick layer of poker face and single-snort scoff-laughs.

"He'll never love you," Seong says, and he hopes Scott can't hear the "I know; I've tried," implicit in his words.

Scott just shrugs instead, and Seong spends the next twenty-four hours wondering if he'd felt anything more than blasé acceptance.

 _If you don't care like I do, then you don't deserve him,_ Seong thinks.

* * *

"Hey. It's Seong again." _Of course it is_. "Just wondering if you were going to be free any time this week." _Probably not._ "Call me back if you get a chance." _Don't be a coward. Just say it._ "I miss you."

Lars texts back: _lol same_

* * *

Scott likes to play at being the "bigger man," whatever the fuck that means. He's obsessed with holding out an olive branch whenever Lars is around so he looks like the compassionate, accepting good sport, while Seong looks like the jealous, selfish, bitter loser.

Which, maybe he is... Who cares. He doesn't owe Scott anything. 

"Lars and I are going for dinner. Wanna come?" There's a hint of a wry twist to Scott's mouth, the bastard. "I mean, it's free food, right?"

Lars hasn't looked up from his phone, where he's type, type, typing away, doing anything from texting Addie to posting another photo of Scott's bedroom eyes on Instagram. But it doesn't matter how busy Lars looks. You don't get to where he's at by being oblivious of your surroundings. He must be overhearing what Scott is saying, and if Seong turns the offer down, he'll look like the asshole here.

But the manner of the invitation doesn't matter. It's the pure indignation that rushes through Seong's body, flushing his face, clenching his jaw, and squeezing his fists.

He can't believe he has to even be invited in the first place.

There was a time when Lars would just expect Seong to come along, and they'd hop in the car so he could speed them down the highway to some restaurant that Seong can only afford when it was Lars' credit card or bank notes paying the bill.

Seong appreciated that. He knew that was Lars trying to express affection, and he allowed it with pleasure.

Scott doesn't. He tries to refuse gifts, and he won't let Lars buy him anything except food and the occasional shirt.

Maybe he'll just never understand Lars like Seong understands him. And maybe that makes Seong feel proud.

* * *

"Seong here. Hey, Lars." _Why does he always start his messages this way?_ "Haven't seen much of you at work lately." _Say the flirty thing? Yes? No?_ "Haven't seen much of you outside work either." _Hopefully that wink translates._ "Call me. I'm free all week."

Lars texts back: _got time 4 a job then?_

Lars' birthday happens.

Scott and Seong make a deal.

They both break it, and Seong breaks it _really bad,_ but Scott fucked up first, and that's what matters, even above how good it feels to be back with Lars again, and how stressful it is to wonder if the name Lars hisses when he comes will be Scott's instead.

It's not.

Instead he whispers, "God _damn_ , I'm fucking great at this," and it's a testament to how gone Seong is that those words don't make him soften instantly.

"You are," Seong mumbles back, and then he tries not to cry when Lars just lights a cigarette and heads outside to smoke in peace.

* * *

Seong tries to leave another message, but Lars has disabled his voicemail. Yet another consequence of whatever happened that time Lars, Scott, and Addie briefly vanished without a trace.

* * *

Seong doesn't crack the code until months later.

"It's like, Scott just won't leave me alone," he rants to Jemma, and it doesn't matter that she's too busy working out to really pay too much attention. "He invites me to all their dates and offers to fucking drive me home or pick me up for work."

"Really?" she asks politely, dancing around the punching bag with light feet. "It feels like he's barely says two words to me."

Seong frowns. "Can we trade Scott interactions?"

"Hey now," Jemma chides. "I think it's sweet. He clearly cares."

"About looking good in front of Lars? Yeah, I know."

She stops and steadies the bag. "Seong, what was it you always said about those dumb shoes again?"

She obviously means the real nice ones that Lars bought for him. The ones that got him called _slut_ , _whore_ , and _golddigger_ just because he can tell that Lars uses his money to say "I love you" for him.

"That's just how Lars shows affection," Seong grits out.

"Exactly," Jemma says in her infinite wisdom. "So maybe this is how Scott shows his."

* * *

Scott invites Seong to his next meal with Lars.

Seong says yes.

They actually have fun.

* * *

Seong ends up in the middle. Scott is behind him, hard against his lower back. Seong's thighs burn from supporting his weight as he straddles Lars.

This seemed like a horrible idea in theory, but in practice, it's pretty amazing.

When Lars comes, he grunts something about how great his taste in men is.

When Scott comes, he breathes both of their names against Seong's shoulder. He says Seong's name first.

* * *

Lars waits for them both to get comfy in the bed before he stands up to smoke outside.

Seong already knows what that means. Lars is waiting for them to doze-off so he can escape and drive away before they wake. Seong is resigned to his fate, and he closes his eyes. 

"He calls you his star a lot," Scott says, apropos to nothing.

Seong glares sleepily at him. They fucked. They aren't friends. "And what? Are you his star too now?"

Scott shrugs. "Maybe." There's a beat. "Lars is a bit of a black hole. You know how black holes work?"

The question is so odd that Seong answers on autopilot. "No?" 

"Their gravitational pull is so strong that they can consume a whole ass star."

It sounds vaguely insulting in that way that everything Scott says does, at least to Seong's ears.

"Are you saying I'm going to be 'consu--"

Scott interrupts him. "But they can't handle much more than that. I guess, like, the gravity gets reversed and they get sucked in instead ir something. The black holes I mean."

Seong freezes, then nods. He takes the olive branch, as weak and twiggy as it is. "So Lars is a black hole, huh?"

Another half-shrug from Scott before he rolls over. "Even black holes can't resist multiple stars."

For a second, Seong wonders if he'll be a coward as per usual, but then his body rolls of its own accord until he spoons up behind Scott. He can almost hear him smile.

They lay like that until Lars comes back in, and instead of pulling his shoes on and grabbing his car keys, he actually climbs in.

Lars smashes himself right in-between Scott and Seong like he owes the place.

And technically, he does.


End file.
